Democracy for America to Democrats: Take Vital Programs Off the Table in Fiscal Showdown Talks

Burlington, VT – Today, Democracy for America (DFA) launched a campaign to protect programs seniors depend on and tell Democrats that no deal is better than a bad deal in the upcoming fiscal showdown talks.

As part of the campaign, DFA and its partners hope to collect 50,000 signatures, demanding Senate Democrats reject any deal that extends the Bush Tax Cuts for the wealthiest two percent or makes cuts to vital programs seniors and working families rely on, such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. DFA will publicly deliver the signatures to Majority Leader Harry Reid.

“Medicare is the single most successful government program ever,” Arshad Hasan, Executive Director of Democracy for America, said. “Democrats, from the President on down, must take any benefit cuts or increases in the retirement age off the table in the fiscal showdown talks. We cannot and must not balance the nation’s budget on the back of our seniors. No deal is better than a bad deal.”

DFA is proud to partner on this campaign with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who has long fought to protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

“Poll after poll shows that the American people want to see deficit reduction done in a way that is fair,” Sanders said. “They do not want to see cuts in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid while millionaires, billionaires and large corporations continue to receive huge tax breaks. Despite the fact that we just won a major electoral victory over Big Money, Wall Street CEOs, big corporations and the millionaires and billionaires are not giving up. Defeating them will take a major grass-roots effort with millions of people getting involved in this fight.”

ABOUT DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA
Democracy for America is the people-powered Democratic Political Action Committee. With over one million members nationwide, DFA is a grassroots powerhouse working to change our country and the Democratic Party from the bottom up.